Gilbert Melendez not interested in fourth fight with Josh Thomson

Entering last night’s Strikeforce event the questions surrounding lightweight Josh Thomson had to do with his health after rumors of a knee injury surfaced a little more than a week ago. Exiting his fight with champion Gilbert Melendez the chatter was not focused on how his leg had held up but rather whether the ringside judges had scored things correctly after awarding “El Nino” was a razor-thin Split Decision.

Thomson looked as strong as any opponent has over the past few years against Melendez with his performance echoing that of a 2008 victory he holds over the company’s 155-pound king. However, as close as their fight was, Melendez is ready to close the chapter of his career titled “Thomson” and move on to new things.

“No, I won the trilogy and it’s supposed to be the end of it,” Melendez explained in a post-fight interview with Showtime after the bout’s conclusion. “I think it was settled once and for all. You guys wanna pay me triple or double, we’ll talk.”

“I just couldn’t let the inner-beast out for some reason,” he added on his inability to do more damage to Thomson, later turning his focus to his future on which he stated, “I’m ready for whoever. I’m proud to be a part of Showtime, proud to be a part of Strikeforce. I’m gonna keep holding the throne and watching the throne.”

Melendez improved his overall record to 21-2 with the successful showing against Thomson and had been very vocal regarding his desire to fight top opponents as a means of helping build his stock instead of being in “lose-lose” situations.

If I were Gil I would feel same way. I beat this guy two out of three times and the last two times in a row, I don’t want to do it again. Close or not I won. Get me some new competition or if you insist on me beating him for third time pay me more money or some other incentive.

I know those guys are in UFC, but anyone not currently holding or fighting for the UFC lightweight belt would almost certainly be interested in fighting a guy like Melendez and the fact that they are both Zuffa promotions would make it possible.

Kudos to Josh Thompson … he made it a very entertaining fight, but enough is enough. A fighter has a limited shelf life, and Gil has already invested enough of his training for and beating on Thompson. Move on already …

MCM he outstruck Melendez by a significant margin, he had more TDs, and when he had a TD he was able to hold Thomson down for some time and deliver some GnP. Thomson didn’t do anything with those TDs and he was taken down more.

He didn’t get FOTN, so there’s no bonus I am aware of. (i.e. not one the AC can touch.)

So $60,000 is probably closer to accurate.

Either way: that’s one expensive doobie. Especially since I doubt Goodman worked on the cheap. Aside from his penchant for saying “ummm” dude slaughtered the AC. He disproved everything they said, they didn’t give a fuck, and spent 2 minutes deciding to hit him with the punishment they decided on before the hearing even started.